What does the floor really think of nursing students?

Snatchedwig, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Nov 28, 2019

7 hours ago, gonzo1 said:
Well, you've learned one valuable lesson...anything you tell anyone will soon be known by all.

TooManyCats, ASN, BSN · Nov 29, 2019

For the most part I like students, especially if they have basic skills and knowledge by the time they reach me. I will say that I hate that professors assign them to train wreck patients and I have to teach while fighting tooth and nail to keep someone alive... or worse.... code a patient. If they’re going to assign to that patient, it should be a shadow experience.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2019

They sound jealous. Keep your private business to yourself unless you want it known by all.

Some nurses like students, some don't.

I generally like them, but I don't like them leaving their bookbags and other personal items all over the break room or nurses' station. I know this is a problem when the school doesn't make provisions for them to leave their things at the school or in their car or somewhere out of the way.

I don't like them disappearing or not wanting to see a procedure or get an experience at something new. They need to stay totally off of their phones unless their loved one is dying. If they are looking up something relevant it's OK.

Teachers who expect floor nurses to teach their students should be tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail.

Best wishes.

db2xs · Nov 30, 2019

On 11/27/2019 at 2:18 PM, superduper said:
I have noticed during my PCA orientation that the hospital that I work at isn't "nursing student friendly" or "new nurse friendly". There have been a couple of instances like.. there have been comments by PCAs and nurses about new grad nurses not knowing something, or I have noticed nursing students having a hard time being paired with a preceptor because no one wanted a nursing student.

"There have been comments by PCAs and nurses about new grad nurses not knowing something." Well, yeah--they're new! People who criticise others for being new and not knowing things, in my opinion, need to step out of their situation and remember that they were were new at nursing/assisting too. Although it may hurt to hear those things, please remember that it is not a reflection on you but on them.

On 11/27/2019 at 2:18 PM, superduper said:
She basically was telling me to not work on that floor because new nurses usually sink than swim on that floor and that there were too many cardiac drips for a new nurse to handle. Maybe it was just advice but it just felt like she was trying to intimidate me because the floor was no different than the other med-surg floors I had been training on (I am a PCA in float pool).

It's hard to know what she meant--if she was advising or intimidating, but it sounds like you felt vulnerable.

On 11/27/2019 at 2:18 PM, superduper said:
People/professors have told me that when you work as a pca while in nursing school the nurses are nicer and let you do more things but it doesn't seem like that's the case in that hospital. To be honest, now when I get asked I say that I am not in school : (

It also sounds like you feel afraid to be honest and transparent, and that is never a good sign.

On 11/27/2019 at 2:18 PM, superduper said:
I just feel like there's a bad connotation about nursing students/new grads at that hospitals. I am just curious is this normal feeling on the floors and I have been oblivious to it? Maybe my particular hospital has had bad experiences with nursing students?

I can't speak to other hospitals and whether other nurses treat students this way but I'm sure there are and as others stated, it's on an individual basis. I personally have always loved having students. I've had such great preceptors in the past; I feel that desire to impart the awesome knowledge handed down to me.

I am going to step out on a limb and assume things about these nurses at the hospital that you work at and say they sound unhappy. Unhappy, stressed out, probably angry and feeling a bit helpless. But that doesn't give anyone license to be rude and mean to others. I hope things improve for you.

emmjayy, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2019

I've had mixed experiences with the students I've gotten. Very rarely do I get a student that I enjoy and get to teach things to. Most of the time they are just lazy and on their phones constantly. I hate that and I will give any student who does that a really hard time (recently told one that she had the option of putting her phone away and learning, or exiting to the locker room until she could tear herself away from her phone while I wrote her clinical instructor an email about her behavior). I'm an ICU nurse so it's like... hello, come learn about this incredibly unstable patient that I am attempting to fix because I KNOW you've never seen anything like this before. I find that a lot of students in the ICU are "code-chasers" and don't really care to learn about what it takes to prevent someone from coding... they just want to do CPR. I love to teach about drips, EKG's, lines, pathophysiology, how to correlate lab values to patient's symptoms/meds, etc., but I hate it when I am all geared up and ready to teach and the student just sits there texting or scrolling through Instagram because the patient isn't actively coding.

Rionoir, ADN, RN · Dec 1, 2019

Are students actually coming onto the FLOOR with their phones?? My god we'd be out of clinical so fast if our instructor saw a phone on the floor.

myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN · Dec 1, 2019

When I was in clinical we were required to have cell phones (although we were to make personal calls). It was important so that we could look up information as appropriate on applications such as Epocrates, or UpToDate (this is after having come into the hospital the night before to research our patients). We were expected to be able to discuss both medical and nursing diagnoses, along with relevant differentials and treatment options.

Call it the "cycle of stress or abuse" but it seems that many nurses are not that nice to newer nurses. As an experiment do a search on "why do nurses eat their own" and see how many related threads pop up. In some respects I believe that this emanates from some of the same processes that underlie child abusers. That is to say those who are abused as a child are more likely to become abusers when they are adults. This is also seen on college and military "hazing" when one groups experiences "unfair ordeals" it seems that they are more inclined to perpetuate the same upon succeeding generations. The only way to "break the cycle" is to vow to be different when you become an experienced RN and to be almost "evangelical" about being nice and having a "teaching" heart.

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2019

6 hours ago, emmjayy said:
I've had mixed experiences with the students I've gotten. Very rarely do I get a student that I enjoy and get to teach things to. Most of the time they are just lazy and on their phones constantly. I hate that and I will give any student who does that a really hard time (recently told one that she had the option of putting her phone away and learning, or exiting to the locker room until she could tear herself away from her phone while I wrote her clinical instructor an email about her behavior). I'm an ICU nurse so it's like... hello, come learn about this incredibly unstable patient that I am attempting to fix because I KNOW you've never seen anything like this before. I find that a lot of students in the ICU are "code-chasers" and don't really care to learn about what it takes to prevent someone from coding... they just want to do CPR. I love to teach about drips, EKG's, lines, pathophysiology, how to correlate lab values to patient's symptoms/meds, etc., but I hate it when I am all geared up and ready to teach and the student just sits there texting or scrolling through Instagram because the patient isn't actively coding.

I am glad you spoke frankly to the student. They really should be dismissed (kicked off the floor) if they are busy texting in a non-emergency. And I would tell them so at the very start of the day so there are no misunderstandings.

And I would not take a student again who didn't display at least a measure of interest and curiosity and desire to learn.

db2xs · Dec 1, 2019

8 hours ago, Kooky Korky said:
And I would not take a student again who didn't display at least a measure of interest and curiosity and desire to learn.

This is totally reasonable. Not only should the student be told but the clinical leader as well.

None of my students were ever on their phones, thank goodness.

hypnotizer90, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2019

Coming from from my past experience from a busy Canadian Nephrology unit (Medical-Surgical), I love having students. I am keen on teaching students on what to do and share my nursing knowledge on the floor. I like to answer questions and be able to research when I cannot.

I am considered novice nurse myself but I never want to feel that I am unwanted. I have learnt from my preceptor to be kind to the youngs because they will be the ones taking care after me when I get old. I always take that voice into my practice.

Some students tell me they did such interventions but I still needed to confirm because some just lie over your face. Regardless, I am lucky if I have students not only for the help but answering those constant call bells +++.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2019

2 hours ago, db2xs said:
This is totally reasonable. Not only should the student be told but the clinical leader as well.
None of my students were ever on their phones, thank goodness.

I would expect the CI to be watching his/her students closely enough to notice themselves ?

I keep reading that clinical placements are competitive, and that schools need to be on their best behavior etc.... how are facilities ok with absentee CIs??

Tenebrae, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2019

I love teaching, I'm passionate about nursing and love sharing information education with others.

I love enthusiastic students, students who are wanting to know more about what we do in my facility, who are willing to get involved with all aspects of a patient care. I'll go out of my way with those students to involve them in any patient or specialist care that I can

I do not like students who expect to be drip fed. take the opportunity to find out stuff on your own, I dont mind asking specialist questions about my area, but seriously if you are asking me basic stuff you can find out on your own, dont be getting snippy when i point you at the text books.

Does having a student add to my work load? Yes. However that can be both good and bad. It encourages me to think about what I am doing, clinical rationale etc however when they expect to be drip fed, its tiring and really painful